Sacramento woman describes Dell tech support abuse

SACRAMENTO, CA - A Sacramento woman's call to Dell technical support for help with a new computer set the stage for a humiliating sequence of events involving credit card fraud and the publication of some very personal photographs.

Source: www.news10.net...

That is very sad. Be careful when you contact technical support and give access to your computer.




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[edit on Tue Aug 3 2010 by Jbird]

a yea this is from YOSPOS. and its just great,when a person is that stupid.
1 she bought a dell
2 she dont even know how to "use the internet"
3 she send naked pics of herself to her bf whatever
4 she agreed to buy a laptop of the support guy,well im sorry miss you are retarded and you deserve what happend to you,would you buy me a laptop too?

reply to post by Stillalive


I disagree.
1st, she is not stupod, she is ignorant.
2nd, computers are not just for computers enthusiats anymore.
3rd, following your opinion, unless you are a machanic, you should not buy a car.

There is a certain level of trust involved in any service sector activities. It clearly demonstrates the danger of outsourcing for:
a: the consumer
b: the outsourcers's credibility

okay ill bite,she is ignorant.
but is it so hard to have antivirus and an adblock and to not click the CLICK HERE (1999')
that may have been forgotten,but when she agrees to BUY A LAPTOP to the guy that is supposed to help her as free supportmi dont know man,i saw the thread in yospos and its hard not to join everyone in a laught out of this. so many families cant even find a job and she agrees to buy a laptop for the guy,it amazes how ignorant people can be.

yea i own an old dangerous car,that can explode any second into a nuclear mushroom.
but even though im not a mechanic i know to check the water/oil/filter once in two months and to tighten a few screws so that puppy wont explode.

and what was the end of story,she didnt even sued him,she pulled the charges or something.wow...no words man

reply to post by Stillalive


It is not about her, it is about the trust between you and your technician. Many more people are exactly in her situation right now... how are we going to help them?

I started a thread about network security after being recently hacked... maybe you can try and do the same to educate users about malware, antivirus and social engineering instead of saying people are stupid. It really just take away the credibility of your arguments anyway.

[edit on 2-8-2010 by gagol]

true,im sorry about that,ive sayd thousand times on ats how to be cool with your pc,and no one seems to care. you have to understand its pretty annoyng to be pc savvy,when everyone wants to MOOCH you,and to mooch you for FREE.
you know how lucky someone is to work in IT or graphi design? my life was in ruins,and the luck of getting a graphic design job saved me sanity. and i worked for trash money...
more so the people that work technical support in america charge what? 50% an hour?
this is CRIME. what do they do whole hour? i can fix everything to never get rotten in half an hour for little money. its true,most people that work in IT are complete morons who not only dont know anything but exploit customers.

and about tips here they are.
get windows 7,keep it updated
get a nice free light antivirus like threadfire
get firefox or opera and put some adblocking
get free ccleaner and free superanti spyware and regulary....run them.
so yea thats pretty much it,most viruses dont even affect 64 bt windows 7
hell i cant even find viruses anymore its 2010 man.
nowadays everyone uses spyware and cookies and datamines.
so yea i hope someone listens to me

so yea add:
get a free defragment tool like iobit smart defrag.
all these programs are 64bit compatible,all work the best compared to others.
you dont need kaspersky or nod32 when the net is so boring,and there are no viruses.
i dont even get how come people get so infected if they "dont use torrent sites couse theyr cool"
and the last thing is to open the computer every two months and blow the dust out

with all that you dont need to trust some moron that takes your hard earned money.

one time one so called "it" telled me "never defrag your pc,you will screw it"
and i just stood there,did he though im a retard or something?
its like being rich,i dont feel that i know something really "hidden" or hard like chemistry
yet people seem to want to use me and mooch me like im rich.huh

and btw blame the peoples resources for hiring those people at work.
blame the one that hired this guy who ripped that girl off

i dont even know why some people find it so hard,everything in windows is in ENGLISH,english is not even my native language.
im like a gipsie or something and i know every dialect in english,my grammar sucks but i can act like an italian,pirate,scottish,brittish accent. is it so hard for people to keep theyr pc's clean? thats why this woman deserved it.


[edit on 2-8-2010 by Stillalive]

[edit on 2-8-2010 by Stillalive]

Im on my 7th dell.

Starting now I am no boycotting them untill they return tech support to the USA.

reply to post by Stillalive


I hear you. I managed a couple of quite big networks in my life despite being trained in design and marketing. I can tell you many users have difficulty grasping the concepts of computers, and probably never will. That is how they are! We all have different skills and mindset.

What I found most gratifying was after spending a couple hours on the phone with my users, to calmly explains the issues and finally make them understand the trade-offs that exist in that field. Most people will understand stuff pretty quickly... after a while

You can read my Home Network Security Thread here.

I wish you well.

aaaah i remember that thread. i didnt know your on the inside too.
well i liked alot of stuff about ubuntu,but hated alot too,the thing that really made me angry is when i send them a message wanting to join theyr graphic team,i though ill be accepted,seems as they get everyone for free,and since i have great background working for a big company and rewards blablabal,they didnt respond.
dam that made me so angry.
i guess they just turned into steve jobs fan boys.
wish you well too man

Dell is garbage! I'm laughing at the poster who said they were on their 7th Dell! Really? I've had the same computer for about 8 years and update various hardware as necessary. If you'd have bought a REAL computer, you wouldn't have gone through 7 of them!!

Regarding the topic... what a dumb woman! Talk about digging yourself a hole, WHOA!!!

You get what you pay for. Dell pays for sh**ty tech support and YOU pay for a sh**ty computer. Don't be suprised when you get a sh**ty computer and sh**ty tech support - sheeeeesh!

Quite the spin on this story. Sorry, but this woman is dumber than dirt on all counts...every step of the way. Not remarkably naive. Not an innocent victim. Just dumb. And now everyone in the world knows it too. And of course, none of it is her fault. I'm no fan of outsourcing, but to blame it for this? Ridiculous. It could just as easily have happened to her right here.

[edit on 8/2/2010 by ~Lucidity]

Oops...double post.

[edit on 8/2/2010 by ~Lucidity]

reply to post by kozmo


I never bought a computer, only pieces to put them together myself. For years I helped people with their computers in exchanges for their unused peices of hardware. I used a PIII up until 2 years ago... and even manage to make HD video animation and composition on it. Render time was crap but editing okay. I am now on Athlon 64 (My dualcore machine has been struck by a surge over TWO powerbars last week...). I do not see the point for most people to get 8GIG ram+4cores+MageGPU... if you game, why not use a (much cheaper) console? But I am not a gamer, so I will never get it.

Originally posted by Stillaliveeveryone wants to MOOCH you,and to mooch you for FREE.

I feel you...people don't realize how valuable good tech work is until they have to pay...

Originally posted by Stillalive
get windows 7,keep it updated

Yikes really?
How about get rid of Windows?

I installed Linux and put Windows in a sandbox, and have not looked back.
Highly recommended, once I got it all dialed in, I don't miss Windows at all.

Thing is...the problem this woman has would not be fixed by any tech, she needs to get a grip on her emotions.

Sad really, I feel for her.

Update from Dell:

"We investigated the issue, which involved a technical representative at one of Dell's vendors," Shine wrote.  "We contacted the vendor about the allegation and can confirm that the representative no longer handles Dell calls.  We've been in contact with Ms. Fitzgerald regarding this issue and continue to investigate her claims to best assist in a resolution." assist in a resolution."

Source: www.news10.net...

Originally posted by Stillalive
aaaah i remember that thread. i didnt know your on the inside too.
well i liked alot of stuff about ubuntu,but hated alot too,the thing that really made me angry is when i send them a message wanting to join theyr graphic team,i though ill be accepted,seems as they get everyone for free,and since i have great background working for a big company and rewards blablabal,they didnt respond.
dam that made me so angry.
i guess they just turned into steve jobs fan boys.
wish you well too man

You should do a serious review of your punctuation. Then you should correct all the mistakes. Then you should probably write a new resume to send out with proper punctuation. It will surely be received much better. The Ubuntu people will probably realize you did graduate the third grade and review your request to join their team accordingly.

Weird story. My husband and I and half the town we live in has Dell. No problems. I've called them a couple of times, one was a battery issue, it was sent within the week. Another was a windows 7, IE8 issue, the FREE tech took control of my computer, figured it out, I now use google chrome or firefox. He explained the incompatibility issue perfectly.

Someone mentioned Dell puts out crappy computers? We must have gotten lucky, mine is great, and the service only needed twice, has been excellent. The tech even talked slower for me so I could understand his accent Everyone I've talked to has had all good with theirs too.

I am also surprised to hear there is no tech service in the US? Service in Canada is 24/7.

From the article:

She said Shaikh convinced her to buy him a new Dell laptop in Sacramento and ship it to his home in Mumbai so that he could work on her case from home. A parcel shipping order from UPS shows Fitzgerald spent $195 to ship the laptop by next-day air on Jan. 20, 2009.

Whaaaaat? She buys a FREE tech his own computer? He works for Dell. He already likely has a free computer from Dell already. :shk:
What a bonehead.

And this all started when she lost nude photos of herself. :shk:
She couldn't have considered those photos that "personal" if she is letting some stranger (the tech) see them.

reply to post by kozmo


I both agree and disagree with your assessment.
I will never purchase a brand name PC and have always built my own but you also have to consider that most people have no interest in doing that and expect and deserve proper tech support without being taken advantage of.
I have worked in the IT field for a long time and the bottom line is most people are still afraid of computers and have no idea what they can or cannot do with one.

Originally posted by gagol
reply to post by Stillalive

 

I disagree.
1st, she is not stupod, she is ignorant.

No, she's definitely stupid. She purchased a computer and overnighted it to the tech support guy in India so he could work on her case from home? After she supposedly "saw" him steal her nude pictures and posted them on a web site? And she continues, to this day, to chat with the guy after he charged some stuff to her credit card and sent it to another woman? Sorry, that's a Grade A moron right there.